


Points of View

by Mantonio



Category: Ava's Demon
Genre: Gen, These kids seriously need a break, fanfiction of a webcomic doesn't really work in text format, nothing really happens, world building
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-02-26 12:21:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13235637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mantonio/pseuds/Mantonio
Summary: "There were, Ava thought, as she nursed her drink, many ways of being looked at."A small worldbuilding piece, set just after the last updates of 2017.





	Points of View

**Author's Note:**

> After discovering Ava's Demon, and proceeding to binge read it over the course of a weekend, I decided to write this little piece of worldbuilding.
> 
> It's set just after the last update to 2017, so once new pages are post in 2018 it'll immediately diverge from canon.
> 
> I'd love to hear some comments and criticism, so please tell me what you think! 
> 
> Hopefully it proves nicer to read than it was to write - getting Odin's speech down is hard, ya'll.

There were, Ava thought, as she nursed her drink, many ways of being looked at.              

For example, there were the tepid, uncaring stares of her teachers, back at the now-destroyed planet where she had been raised. It wasn’t an evil look, strictly speaking, but it was a callous one in its disinterest nonetheless.

(A dark thought bubbled to the surface of her mind, pointing out how her teachers were all dead now.)

(Ava banished it with a grimace.)

And of course, there were the looks of hatred she had received from her fellow students. Whether tinged with betrayal; irritation; or just plain exhaustion, years of Wrathia’s influence had ensured that all the children she’d ever met had quickly learned to greet her with that look.

(They’re all dead now, too, another dark thought whispered. Scavenged down to their atoms, never to grow up.)

(This thought was harder to push away, but Ava did so.)

More recently still were the looks from the audience at TITAN HQ. The stares of blank politeness as she was forced onto the stage and into that hellish machine. Oh, just thinking about it made her anxious! That shiny chrome monstrosity, built to cut; and tear; and rip her apart and put her back together again as Something That Was Not Herself.

It was a nightmare made real, and the crowd had just watched as she was pushed in.

(And then you murdered them for it, a third dark thought said, self-loathing giving it volume above the others. They didn’t deserve that.)

(An even darker thought, one that made Ava feel sick to her stomach, responded: Yes, they did.)

“H-hey, how’re you holding up?”

Putting these thoughts aside, Ava looked up across the table, to where Odin was sat with a drink in his hand. The look he was giving her now was much nicer to those in her thoughts. It she had to name it, she would say it was one of sleepy amusement. The kind you gave when you were tired, but safe, and everything was warm and ok.

It wasn’t one Ava was too familiar with, but she decided that she liked it a lot.

“Sorry, just… thinking.” She said, giving a polite smile back. “About everything that’s happened today.”

 

* * *

 

The last day or so had been very hectic indeed, even if you were to ignore the part where Ava had turned into some human-vengess hybrid and committed mass homicide.

After leaving TITAN HQ, they’d ditched the freighter at the first opportunity. Even if it was fully automated, the ship was bound to be full of cameras, recorders and all sorts of tracking devices. So, as they were now all wanted criminals, getting rid of it quick was an obvious decision.

Odin had gone to the front of the ship for a moment, saying he’d “Take c-care of it”, and barely half an hour later another ship had pulled up beside them. An angular, somewhat scruffy vessel, with a bow and arrow painted on the side in burgundy.

They boarded that ship and, after a brief, unseen conversation between Odin and the captain, sped off in the opposite direction to the freighter. They repeated this process a few hours later, transferring to another ship heading in yet another direction. Finally, they arrived at their current location: a large asteroid that had been hollowed out into some sort of port.

And what a port it was! Ava thought it resembled the stories of ocean pirates she’d read as a little girl. The buildings were fronted with wood and polished stone panels, the lights were tastefully decorated as lantern posts, and all the people were dressed in archaic styles with colourful fabrics.

Moving through the crowd, Odin led them to an inn - again, something Ava had only ever read about. She was certain you wouldn’t see one anywhere on a TITAN planet. “Dirty, drunken places for dirty, drunken souls”, as one of her teachers had put it.

But this inn didn’t seem dirty at all, with a clean, white painted front, and flowerboxes under the windows. It even had a sign hanging of the front, featuring a painting of a sleeping wolf curled around the trunk of an apple tree, and something written underneath it in a language Ava didn’t understand.

“W-we’ll be safe here” Odin said after having a quick talk with the landlord and leading them up the stairs to a series of rooms. “These r-rooms are ours. We c-can get some food, a wash, and s-some new clothes. And then tomorrow I’ll answer any questions you have.”

He made to walk into one of the rooms, but Maggie grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him back.

“How about you answer some now?” She said. “I’m not being kept in the dark here, not after today. Where are we? Who are all these people? Why do they all keep touching their heads and calling you ‘M’lord’ when they see you, because don’t think we haven’t noticed that! Are you royalty or something? Who the hell even are you, Odin?!”

Odin stared, his face unreadable. Then he sighed and said “Th-that’s fair. O-okay. I can’t explain e-everything, because I d-don’t have all the answers. You’ll h-have to ask my family the hard questions. And yes, my f-family is… influential- “

“Clearly” Gil said flatly, the first he’d spoken for a while. “The bow drawn on everything did give it away.”

Odin gave that a wry smile and rubbed the back of his neck. “Y-yeah, tell me about it. But they b-basically own this port, so we can t-trust the people here. A-anyway, I was asked to f-find people like you, M-Maggie. Be-because of your…”

He paused, and then shrugged and made a vague gesture towards Ava. Ava’s eyes widened as she understood.

“Because of her ghost! Because of Tuls!” She said.

“R-right. That. Whatever that is.” Odin said.

He looked at each of them in turn, then continued. “Th-then I had to get y-you out of there when the Sc-Sc-Scavengers attacked, and a s-second one of you tags along. And then we c-crash on a random planet that j-just happens to have a th-third? Really?!”

He pointed a finger to the ground, growing more agitated in his words. “So-something is happening here! A-and I don’t know w-what it is, but w-whatever it is, it has to be im-im-important!”

The group went silent as his words sank in. If fate had drawn them together, then it raised a lot of uncomfortable questions for each of them. Did they not have free will? Had all their previous misery been unescapable? And worst of all (because they were, after all, teenagers), how could they possibly get along long enough to see this through?

This last question scared Maggie the most, especially regarding Ava. And Maggie much preferred being angry to being scared, so she momentarily deflected by fear by scoffing and turning to Gil.

“Can you believe this nonsense?” She said to him.

“Maggie, would you please just shut up?” Gil replied, surprising everyone.

To further surprise, most of all her own, Maggie did so.

“I’m sorry” Gil continued, sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose. “I shouldn’t say such things. But I’m tired; I’m dirty; I haven’t eaten anything all day; and I think I can feel myself beginning to have another breakdown about how my god hates me. Can we please just, I don’t know, get a good night’s sleep before we start fighting again?”

Not bothering to wait for an answer, he then walked to his room and shut the door. Maggie, for her part, looked like she’d very much prefer to start fighting immediately, but she decided to bite her tongue.

“Fine!” She said, marching into her own room. “But if I don’t get answers tomorrow you’ll be sorry.”

“D-dinner will be in an h-hour!” Odin called after her. All he got in response was the sound of the door slamming shut.

 

* * *

 

With those two in their rooms, Ava and Odin had gone downstairs to the main area of the inn, a large room filled with round tables and soft chairs. An enormous fireplace dominated one wall, surrounded by all sorts of stuffed animal heads, while at the other wall, behind the bar, were bottles of all shapes and sizes.

After talking to the lady behind the bar about dinner, Odin had chosen a corner table for them, where’d they’d been sat for the last twenty minutes in relative silence, each lost in their own thoughts.

“It’s b-been a long day” Odin agreed.

He put his glass down and pulled out his pipe. “Hopefully t-tomorrow will be better. Involve less p-peril, at least.” He then made to light his pipe, but frowned as his lighter refused to work.

Without really thinking about it, Ava said “Here, let me” and reached across the table. As she put her finger to the edge of the bowl, a tiny yellow flame appeared there, and the pipe began to smoke.

Odin gave Ava another unreadable look as she pulled her hand back, but then he just shrugged and took a puff. “T-thanks.”

Ava smile, blushing slightly. But her smile faltered and her blush deepened as she noticed the people at the adjacent table: a large group of men and women, dressed in nautical uniforms of various colours. Before they had been chattering amongst themselves, only stopping to laugh uproariously or to order more drinks. But now, to Ava’s horror, they were all staring at her with open mouths and wide eyes.

Once they realised their staring had been noticed, they huddled together and started furiously whispering.

 “-ade fire, of course she’s one -”

“Anyone can do that, it’s an easy sleight of han -”

“-e is one, and I’m not saying she is, then why is she so -”

“- they say it’s good luck if you mee- “

“Shut up, shut up! I’ll ask, okay?”

A woman at the adjacent table stood up. She was tall and thin, with dark skin and closely cut hair. She was wrapped in a long, dark blue overcoat, and was wearing a black tricorn hat on her head. Both were ironed so sharply they almost looked like they could cut you if you got to close.

With obvious trepidation, she approached Ava’s table. “Excuse me, Lord Arrow” she said to Odin, taking off her hat and holding it in front of her like a shield. “May I disturb your friend for a moment?”

Odin looked annoyed at being treated so deferentially, but nodded, so the woman turned to Ava and cleared her throat.

“Forgive my intrusion, miss, but… are you a vengess?”

“Uhhh…” Ava’s eyes flicked to Odin for a moment, but from the slight amusement on his face it was clear she’d find no help there.

“Yes? Yes, I suppose I am.” She said, giving a polite smile.

The woman looked delighted to hear it, but she forced her expression into a serious one and then went on to perform a gesture Ava didn’t quite understand. She bunched her right hand into a fist and crossed it over her heart, with pointer and pinkie fingers extended.

“It’s an honour to meet one of you, miss.” The woman continued excitedly. “A real honour. When your people take the fight to space, you’ll not find me or my crew wanting.”

Ava had no idea what she was talking about, and given by the way the woman’s expression faltered, it must have shown on her face. “Oh. Um, thank you? Wait, are the vengess still fighting?”

By the confusion on her face, this didn’t seem to be the answer the woman was expecting. “You don’t know, miss?”

Ava felt her blush returning, deeper than ever. “Uh, well, you see…”

Thankfully, Odin decided at this moment to butt in and save her the embarrassment. “You’ll h-have to forgive my f-friend here” He said. “She was r-raised on a TITAN planet”.

The woman’s eyes grew stormy for a moment, and her table devolved into whispers again.

“-loody TiTAN! Anything they get their hands on they - “

“-doubt she even knows anything about herself, poor thi - “

“-lains why she’s so small, at least! - “

Then it passed, and the woman smiled again, kinder than before. “I’m sorry to hear that” She said. “Well, miss, you’ll be pleased to know that the vengess never stopped fighting. After your queen… passed away – “

“Ha!” One of the men at the adjacent table scoffed. “After TITAN murdered her, you mean, captain!”

The woman shot a glare back at her table, causing the offender to quiet down, then turned back and continued. “After she died, and TITAN himself moved on, their mages put a barrier around their homeworld. TITAN can’t bombard them from orbit now, so they have to  send troops down to hold it. But once a ship goes through the barrier, it can’t leave.”

“And it’s not like they can hold anything down there for long!” Another voice at the adjacent table piped up, a woman’s this time. “Even the strategoi travel in pairs!”

This was all a lot for Ava to take in, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about it. She did note, however, that perhaps Wrathia was better-liked than she first thought.

“Um, thank you” She eventually said, with another polite smile. “You’ve given me a lot to think about.”

Feeling like something more was needed, she went out on a limb and added. “Sorry, what’s your name?”

The women saluted again. “It’s Sigrun, miss. Captain of the Stahlbjorn.”

Not quite knowing what she was doing, Ava repeated the salute back to her. “Captain Sigrun”, she said, flashing a grin at her. “Good luck to you and your crew.”

The look of delight on the captain’s face was now nearly overwhelming. Bowing deeply to Ava, she practically skipped back to her table, where her and her crew immediately began talking amongst themselves again.

“L-looks like you made her day” Odin said.

Ava blushed, but not in embarrassment this time, and smiled, but not out of politeness.

Yes, she thought, there were many ways of being looked at.

But perhaps not all of them were bad.


End file.
